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Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Age of Azmoq: The Valantian Imperium by Rajamayyoor Sharma

Title: Age of Amzoq: The Valantian Imperium

Author: Rajamayyoor Sharma

Category: Fantasy Fiction

Publisher: Self Publsihed (2018)

Price: 499/ Kindle edition (free)

Serious fantasy fiction lovers
have one more reason to rejoice- The Valantian Imperium, the first book in a
series called The Age of Azmoq, is finally set to captivate readers into a
fictional world where a gripping saga unfolds.

A series of events…

The protagonist, Dev, works as a
shop assistant in Villasboro, a self-contained village where the last ‘outsider’ had come three
centuries ago. Not surprisingly, the extended presence of an outsider makes one
of the villagers worried. This sets the ball rolling. Dev befriends the visitor. A series of events follow
that leads the young unsuspecting boy into a long and dangerous adventure.

On his journey he befriends Karn
and Eric, two brave people who stand by him. The three have their own reasons
to get together for a common goal. On a quest, the reason for which is revealed
as one reads the story, they have a series of adventures and unique
experiences. They learn mysteries of the mind from nomads, fight with soldiers
and escape death a multitude of times. Grim, who is Dev’s employer, also plays a
vital role in the story.

These three individuals have an
individual goal they want to achieve. Little do they know, that a more supreme cause
waits them. It is to do with Azmoq. Azmoq is a magical metal that holds a
supreme power thanks to its properties. Those who control Azmoq control
the world. The ‘fight’ for this control is the crux
of the entire story.

The world he creates:

One of the biggest challenges of writing
fantasy fiction is actually creating a fantasy world. This book is set in
Valantia. The continent of Valantia is vast and exists in a world with five
oceans and seven continents. The Valatian Imperium rules the continent.
However, after a revolution against the rulers, there seems to be a witch hunt
for the revolutionaries. Amidst this, there is a trio of dedicated young men
who are on a mission to seek justice.

The author creates a believable
fantasy world, replete with the minutest of details. For instance, one of the
key villages where the source of action begins, is Villasboro. Not only do we
know about the very different and unique personality of people there but also
mundane details like their monetary system and so on, complete with explanatory
footnotes! He also invents the fictional language Deusorthok, that is used
in the book at some places. The appendix at the end of the book explains
the entire creation and functioning of the government- The Valantian Imperium.

There is a lot of elaborate
history of this fictional world- how it was created, who ruled it and how the
order was now threatened. The author uses footnotes at various points in
the story to introduce finer details about this world. He gives the reader a
choice as to whether he wants to read the footnotes and understand the setting
a little better, or move on with the story. This makes the place alive in
the mind of the reader.

Parallel stories..

The pace is leisurely though the
novel is filled with many details. This is not a regular quick weekend read. It
is a book that needs to be read with time on hand.

However, despite the length and
the plethora of details, it never gets tedious. Something new crops up in every
chapter which adds to the element of suspense, and you just want to know what
comes ahead.

Another element which keeps the
excitement going is the changing narrative. The novel switches between the
first and third person, thus adding to the element of interest. It also
experiments in the narrative- parallel stories across time are narrated and the
loose ends come together. The book starts off with Dev as the narrator but
there are instances when the story is in the third person or when another
character takes the narrative strings in his own hands. The story also
oscillates between the past and the present.

For me, this experimentation in
taking the story forward and building added to the experience of reading the
novel.

Everything is political

On a basic level, this is a good
versus evil story. The underlying theme is the quest for power by controlling
Azmoq. A lot of themes emerge in the novel- the dangerous nature of power, the
ambiguity of what is good and what is bad, the nature of true friendship, the
futility of war and most importantly the nature of government and how
governments can control the minds of people.

At a deeper level the story is
also about power and how those in power, manipulate it in order to control the
general public and retain the power. When it comes to power politics it is
difficult to understand what is good and bad or right and wrong. Can society be
controlled and manipulated by those in power, even without the victims being
aware that they are being controlled? On careful reading this aspect comes out
strongly.

Consider this quote by Karn:

“There are many forms of oppression. The cow that fills the
land doesn’t think that it is
oppressed. It gets beaten twice a day and its masters tell it repeatedly that
it’s forefathers world get beaten every hour,”

Or, what one of the opposition assassins tells the
protagonist:

I killed a man I didn’t know, for rulers I have never
met....your friend never had a chance. If not me, there would have been
some other assassin who would have come to kill him. As long as the Imperium
dictates who lives, who dies....there is no true...choice

The theme of authoritative powers
controlling the entire perception of a society recurs.

As another wise character puts
it,

“Reality was finally, a convergence of infinite perceptions.
Our perceptions were being increasingly bound by the information we possessed,
which was being molded and controlled by the rulers of our land. There was no
avenue available to anyone to shake the shackles placed on their mind by the Valantian
Imperium. This made it easy for the Imperium to hold onto power, while we
languished and suffered without even realizing it,”

Elsewhere in the novel a sage
talks about the four key components that are needed to lay concrete
foundation for a successful and sustainable society, thus cementing this
philosophical angle.

Wars make up an integral part of
the novel. Both the futility and the necessity of war is something that is
sensitively brought out in the story.

The turn of events spirals towards a satisfying conclusion...or rather
a pause. For though things are good for now, the varied incidents in the story
have set in motion a chain of events that will change the world forever. And
the story will continue...